Last Wish
by secretgal
Summary: The last moments of Cloud Strife's life.


There was three feet of snow on the ground and more filling the air. Soft, pure and white, the way it was falling to the ground looked like someone was sprinkling a layer of powdered sugar over a cake. It was simply beautiful watching the serene, fairytale scene; the greatest peace that nature could offer someone. For Cloud Strife, the surrounding seemed like something out of a dream.

The scene was ruined though by the trails of hot, scarlet blood that tainted the pure ground around his sides.

His breathing was labored and his body racked with pain. Everywhere, in every fiber of his body, there were unbearable aches. He could hear his heart beating in his head, blocking out all of the sounds around him. Ironically, his sight was still clear. Clear enough to see pair of wine red eyes fall over him.

_"Cloud?! Cloud!"_

Those were the first words that he could hear through the thumping sound in his brain. From what he could make out, she seemed terrified. It was all he could make out.

He couldn't see who else was there watching him. Yuffie, Barret, Red XIII, Cid, Cait Sith, maybe even Vincent. His head wouldn't move. All his sapphire eyes would let him see was the gray sky and falling snow.

_"Barret do something! I can't loose him!"_

So she did care about him.

Oh Tifa. He was such a fool. All that time, while they were fighting and battling Sephiroth, traveling through the world, she had feelings for him. He always had a suspicion that Tifa cared about him, but he never had the courage to ask her.

_"Cloud, please don..."_

Her voice was becoming less clear. The pain in his head was dissipating, yet his sight was growing dull. There was not much time left.

"Ti...Tifa? I...I'm sorry."

She must have heard him because she moved her whole face directly into his line of limited sight. Cloud could see those beautiful wine orbs overflowing with crystal tears. Her skin looked like an alabaster doll, with a hint of peach. Her long, dark hair was flowing in the wind. Single strands were stuck to her face, making her familiar flawless façade look like a cracked piece of china. There were even little flecks of snow in her hair.

"No. Don't say that Cloud. You're going to be fine."

"I won't be..." Cloud stopped as another wave of pain surged through his body, causing him to grunt and wince.

He was fading. The snow was becoming indistinguishable from the sky. Only the flakes that were visible were those that fell across Tifa's face. This was his one chance to say good bye.

"Tifa," Cloud whispered as the iron taste of blood trickled into his mouth. She leaned closer so she could hear what he was saying.

"I...I...love you...Tifa."

Cloud gazed one last time into those beautiful eyes. They were the same eyes that had greeted him so many times in the morning and had watched over him many nights on their journey. Those eyes had showed so much emotion and care for him that he would do anything to protect her. Her eyes had shown so much compassion and understanding even as a child.

He loved those eyes...because they belonged to the woman he loved so dearly. They would be the last things he saw before slipping into an eternal rest. And for once he was happy.

Cloud, feeling fulfilled for the first time in his life, smiled. As he began to fade away, those red eyes became to only color he could see through the growing light. Soon even they disappeared.

"I...I...love you...Tifa."

Tifa stared at Cloud, shocked at what she had heard. She thought that he had said he loved her. Her wine eyes had not once left from the serene eyes of the blond warrior.

"Cloud?" she whispered, her eyes dancing across the ex-SOLDIER's face. "Say that one more time?"

There was no response. She stared into his sapphire ocean eyes. But they seemed different.

"Cloud? Cloud?" She spoke with fear and terror in her voice. Her face twitched as she was trying to come to grips with what was happening. Gripping his shoulder, she lightly shook it, trying to wake him.

"Cloud!"

She began to shake his chest.

"Cloud! CLOUD!"

He wasn't dead. He...he couldn't possibly be dead. He was the only one who had experienced what happened at Nibelheim, who had any inclination as to what had happened. Cloud was the steady shoulder and cool head that she had depended on for so long. He was invincible.

Then it hit her: he was gone.

Fresh tears began to fall from her eyes. They hit her bruised hands that were buried in Cloud's shirt. As she cried her breaths became deeper and heavier. Her breaths became the only sound, piercing the silence of the falling snow.

Looking up at Cloud's face, she noticed a small smile. It wasn't a fake smile or the one he always gave her when he was trying to hide his pain and emotions. It was a pure, peaceful smile that seemed free of cares or fears. Tifa had not seen that smile in ages, not since she was a little girl.

Controlling her cries, she let her fingers move to Cloud's face. She then pushed his cold eyelids down to cover the pair of deep jeweled eyes she had loved. His skin felt cold, but it didn't matter to Tifa.

She then moved her head so it was pressed against his forehead, letting her forehead touch his skin. The barest scent of flowers that remained in his chocobo blond hair filled her nose. Closing her eyes, she did her best to suppress the fresh tears that were forming. Tifa took a deep breath, and moved her head so that she was once again directly above Cloud's. Slowly, she let her lips fall to touch his and she kissed him gently.

A few seconds later, she pulled back and calmly said, "I love you too..."

With that a fountain of emotions erupted within Tifa. Her lips started to quiver and the tears she had held back appeared once again. Taking another breath, she buried her head in Cloud's chest.

Snow continued to fall, covering the stains that had blotted the perfectly white ground. Soon, all traces of what happened there would be erased, but the memory of those there would make sure the event would never be forgotten.

**Author's Note: **I know it seems really stereotypical for me to write a Final Fantasy death scene, but I wanted to do one for Cloud because all of the deaths that I have read involving him happen during a battle or are sort of silly. As a result, I felt like writing a serious, non-emo death piece. I always felt that his death needed to happen in a peaceful place, where he would admit his feelings to Tifa.

Also many thanks to Rika Yokoshima for beta reading.


End file.
